In a storytelling workshop with 4th grade students this week, I had a child ask me a question that has given me pause. It made me start pondering my storytelling and my blogging. I told the kids that I didn’t start telling stories until I was in my thirties, although my life’s path had been leading me that direction for a very long time.
A little girl asked, “Do you wish you had started telling stories when you were younger?”
I wish I could have a “do-over” with my answer.
I answered “in the heat of the moment” and told her something along the lines of:
Yes! If I had become a storyteller the first time the chance came along, I would have been on the first wave of the “Storytelling Renaissance” movement. I would have had many more opportunities to tell at large festivals, so that thousands of people at a time could hear my work. I might be a “famous storyteller” now.
I realized later that my answer wasn’t “true” at all.
Oh, yes it’s true that I would have told at more festivals … and I might be more “famous.” But, I do NOT wish I had started earlier.
First of all, there are no “famous storytellers.” Some of us are well known among storytelling aficionados, but “fame” doesn’t equal fortune in this business. After hearing us, most people can’t remember our names (which is fine with me, as long as they remember the story).
Second, while telling at a festival allows thousands of people to hear our work, I’m not sure it’s our best work. Storytelling is an intimate art form. There is no way to be intimate with a tent full of people. A performer simply can’t connect with anyone beyond the first few rows. I would much rather tell stories to a small audience and have each person leave feeling that I told the story just to them.
Third, though I’m quite certain I would have been an excellent performer if I had started telling stories at a younger age, I would have had nothing worthwhile to say! Stories that are not filled with the richness and wisdom of life experience are just empty words. Even though some of the stories we tell are re-tellings of old folk tales, we infuse them with our own “voice” and life experience. We tell them in words that fit our own mouths. In order to tell stories well, we have to experience life first.
I told you this made me think about my blogging, too. It did. There are bloggers out there (I was one for awhile) who spend countless hours writing posts, answering comments, blog-hopping (leaving pithy comments on other blogs to get people to visit their own), and networking. They hope to make it to the “big time.” Those many hours spent at a computer take away from the opportunity to experience life … at least life in the real world. Those many hours away from real life detract from the stories we might tell.
The chances of becoming a “famous blogger” are slim these days (though I realize there are some who can do it). Personally, I’d rather let blogging be just one part of a life well-lived.
I’ll never be a “famous” storyteller, nor will I be a “famous” blogger. That’s not the point. I don’t care if you remember my name — but I hope you remember the stories.
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{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
Your comment about blogging me reminded me of the line in the movie “You’ve Got Mail” when Meg Ryan’s character said, “Everything I see reminds me of something I read in a book. Shouldn’t it be the other way around?” I agree with you…Now you have enough experiences to have something to say. Time and season. That’s an important part of the writing and I assume story-telling experience!
Stacys last blog post..Contentment
Yep. A story can be “performed” by just about anybody. Writing it to have some kind of meaning demands that we understand a little about the big wide world.
I understand, in theory, what you are saying, but from my side of the equation, I want to remember the storyteller as much as I want to remember the story.
Yes, I want to feel the life experience behind the storyteller, just as I want to hear a singer ‘emote’ the song, not just sing the notes. Telling a story well is like singing a song well, vast differences in performances and whether they evoke emotion. Agreed.
I do beg to differ that some could tell stories and evoke the emotions necessary – at an early age and without as much life experience – though probably only the more instinctive person.
Marcias last blog post..Don’t Tell Me What to Do!
We don’t differ. I fully believe that we can “emote” without life experience. But, a storyteller writes the words to fit their own mouths…so they have to have something worthwhile to say. Good storytellers aren’t working from a “script.” That said, there are some folks who are excellent at writing the stories and have absolutely no stage presence. Life doesn’t play fair sometimes.
Love this post!!! I haven’t been blogging, as you know, because I wasn’t able to sit at my computer. I didn’t exactly trade that time for “living” as I spent most of it flat on my back watching bad TV shows. When I checked my technorati score, it was 19. Can you believe it? I thought about all that A-list stuff and it dawned on me that not only didn’t I care that my score was 19, I realized that I’d rather read the comments from my dozen or so regular readers than “great post” from 100 blog hoppers. I am actually working on saying something like this in my next post! GMTA sista!!!
Jessica The Rock Chicks last blog post..Back In Black
It’s a bit of a catch 22 isn’t it, the way youth is wasted on the young? When you’re young you’ve got the energy and the drive but you haven’t learned quite what to do with it yet, and you don’t yet have the vast array of life experiences that help you figure it out.
Great post Shelly, very thought provoking.
Robins last blog post..Impromptu Math Lesson
Catch 22, indeed. Thanks for the kudos. I’m admiring that you are getting out into the wide world to take photos. Another form of artistry that feeds our ability to tell stories.
Fabulous post – as far as I am converned you are a famous storyteller. The kids you work with will remember you for years to come.
Waving at you wildly from New York,
Frances
Francess last blog post..Big Nick’s Pizza Joint – an Upper West Side tradition
They won’t remember my name, or maybe even what I looked like. But, some of them will remember the stories all their lives. That’s worth more than the fame any day of the week. Waving right back, from Texas.
Recently I saw where someone asked a “famous” blogger when he blogged. His answer was great! “Whenever I have something to say.”
I am happy to say your blog is a blog I follow. I enjoy the great stories and your projects. I am interested in what you have to say. You are famous on my desk top!
Sheila
Sheila Atwoods last blog post..A Business In Digital Products
The timing for your comment was absolutely perfect, Sheila. I was contemplating (after many WordPress woes) just dropping this whole blogging business. I have been pressuring myself to write when I didn’t want to do so. I think I’ll take the words of your “famous blogger” to heart. Thanks for dropping by, and thanks for your kind words.